The present inventions relate generally to presence services, and more particularly to presence architectures, including presence servers in wireless communications networks, capable of providing graphical and variable presence information, and to mobile communications handsets capable of displaying graphical and variable presence information, and methods therefor.
xe2x80x9cPresencexe2x80x9d services in communication networks are known generally including, for example, the popular xe2x80x9cBuddy Listxe2x80x9d presence and instant messaging services of America OnLine (AOL). The AOL xe2x80x9cBuddy Listxe2x80x9d is a pop-up window at an AOL subscriber station that lists other pre-selected or identified AOL subscribers, known as xe2x80x9cBuddiesxe2x80x9d, when the pre-selected xe2x80x9cBuddiesxe2x80x9d are on-line or xe2x80x9cpresentxe2x80x9d. The AOL xe2x80x9cBuddy Listxe2x80x9d is updated dynamically as subscribers come on-line and go off-line. AOL members are thus able to know which of their pre-selected xe2x80x9cBuddiesxe2x80x9d are on-line and off-line.
The association of graphical icons with a user""s presence is also known, for example the AOL service allows users to select an icon from a list of predefined icons to be associated with their presence. The selected icon is displayed in association with the user""s presence adjacent the user""s user-name on AOL Buddy Lists.
The various aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Detailed Description of the Invention with the accompanying drawings described below.